Dr. Norell will talk about the Past, Present and Future of the Silk Road. We will get familiar with the old Silk Route, what it was, how people lived it and travelled [...]]]> Mark Norell is a Paleonthologist and has curated the Silk Road exhibit at the American Natural History Museum in New York.

Dr. Norell will talk about the Past, Present and Future of the Silk Road. We will get familiar with the old Silk Route, what it was, how people lived it and travelled through it. Commerce throughout the Silk Road has “built” some of the most powerful cities of their time by fueling creativity. It’s exactly the same effect that the New Silk Road is having in our World now: Commerce fuels Creativity.

Take some time to explore the website of the exhibit “Traveling the Silk Road”

Heather Leson is the Director of Community Engagement at Ushahidi and at TEDxSilkRoad she will share how Technology helps activate communities, and how they [...]]]> Ushahidi builds tech tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories in a way that is disrupting the traditional way that information flows.

Heather Leson is the Director of Community Engagement at Ushahidi and at TEDxSilkRoad she will share how Technology helps activate communities, and how they can then help foster capacity and collaboration during an emergency.

Heather Leson, Ushahidi

Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. It’s being used primarily in Africa, but has also expanded into Europe, South America and the U.S.